SmackDown 10/20
Friday night wrapped up what I thought was a pretty solid week of WWE Television with SmackDown. The show was taped as part of a Super Show in Los Angeles that had tapings of both RAW and SmackDown on Sunday the 15th. The show was highlighted by a solid title main event that had King Booker defending the title against Batista. The main event was marred by interference by both Big Show and John Cena, as they were both at ringside watching, which was an obvious setup for the Cyber Sunday main event in Cincinnati.
I liked the premise that now next week it will be a tag between the face team of Cena and Batista vs the heel team of Show and Booker. Of course the stupid line of the year came from GM Teddy Long - who pointed out - "I don't know if I can do this or not," and then went on to make the main event anyway. If he couldn't, why would he even propose it? The rest of the night was built around the "I Quit" match between Chavo Guerrero and Rey Mysterio. It was widely known that Mystero was leaving to have knee surgery, so to have him lose the match was pretty obvious. The early word is that Mystero will be on the SmackDown team at Survivor Series, but it may be too soon to tell if he is on that card or not.
Some of the other matches included a waste between MVP and Kane, with MVP again leaving the ring to take the loss with a countout. I don't really understand the booking of putting these two together, other than to make Kane look like a monster, and to totally waste the early performances of MVP. Of couse having MVP walk out does lead the fans to really hate him more, which may be the long run goal of the bookers. The Elijah Burke vs Vito match was interesting, with Vito taking his first pinfall loss in a very long time on SmackDown. I guess we'll see more of these two down the road.
I like the track they are setting up with William Regal and his new partner, Dave Taylor. It's about time they once again realize that Regal is not just some jobber stiff, and his match with Benoit at No Mercy should have proved that given time, Regal can wrestle with the best of them. Now we'll see how long they develop this team and if there is truly any future for them. How about a possible tag title match with London and Kendrick? That would be something to look out for.
Undertaker on TV is always supposed to be special, but his non-title match with Gregory Helms lacked any real purpose other than to get the deadman over as usual. It did nothing for Helms, and wasted a TV shot for Taker. Not sure again what they were trying to do with this one. They also did a thing with the Miz and the Divas dancing, but that was a total waste of TV time.
Overall though, I thought this wrapped up a good week of TV. RAW was solid, ECW was pretty good as well, and this was not a bad show. For what they threw out there, and what they have already set up for next week, it was a pretty good show overall.
I liked the premise that now next week it will be a tag between the face team of Cena and Batista vs the heel team of Show and Booker. Of course the stupid line of the year came from GM Teddy Long - who pointed out - "I don't know if I can do this or not," and then went on to make the main event anyway. If he couldn't, why would he even propose it? The rest of the night was built around the "I Quit" match between Chavo Guerrero and Rey Mysterio. It was widely known that Mystero was leaving to have knee surgery, so to have him lose the match was pretty obvious. The early word is that Mystero will be on the SmackDown team at Survivor Series, but it may be too soon to tell if he is on that card or not.
Some of the other matches included a waste between MVP and Kane, with MVP again leaving the ring to take the loss with a countout. I don't really understand the booking of putting these two together, other than to make Kane look like a monster, and to totally waste the early performances of MVP. Of couse having MVP walk out does lead the fans to really hate him more, which may be the long run goal of the bookers. The Elijah Burke vs Vito match was interesting, with Vito taking his first pinfall loss in a very long time on SmackDown. I guess we'll see more of these two down the road.
I like the track they are setting up with William Regal and his new partner, Dave Taylor. It's about time they once again realize that Regal is not just some jobber stiff, and his match with Benoit at No Mercy should have proved that given time, Regal can wrestle with the best of them. Now we'll see how long they develop this team and if there is truly any future for them. How about a possible tag title match with London and Kendrick? That would be something to look out for.
Undertaker on TV is always supposed to be special, but his non-title match with Gregory Helms lacked any real purpose other than to get the deadman over as usual. It did nothing for Helms, and wasted a TV shot for Taker. Not sure again what they were trying to do with this one. They also did a thing with the Miz and the Divas dancing, but that was a total waste of TV time.
Overall though, I thought this wrapped up a good week of TV. RAW was solid, ECW was pretty good as well, and this was not a bad show. For what they threw out there, and what they have already set up for next week, it was a pretty good show overall.
